Chapter 12 - Frenemies

Brushing my hair out felt like it took forever. Probably because of all that tats that I received during my round with Gressil who I didn't even know. "Gressil was a punk." Lamia responded to my thought. I still wondered what his responsibilities were. "Gressil was the demon of sloth. Belphegor ring a bell?" Lamia asked. "No and how many names do you guys go by?" I retorted. "Mia, we're centuries old. Humans give us names, other immortals give us names, we collect them over our years." I thought about how confusing that might all be and Lamia responded again "We are centuries old... You learn easily after the first few." I rolled my eyes at her, "Lamia, let me think my own thoughts PLEASE." I said ever so annoyed. The only time I got to be inside my own head was when we were with Lilith. "I'm not allowed to speak there unless spoken to." Externally I blurted, "LAMIA" throwing my arms out and she finally quit answering my thoughts. I heard multiple footsteps downstairs and headed towards the door. I guess B's friends had arrived. Making my way down the stairs I felt a sliver of air pass my neck and the almost silent twinkling of a chain. "Mia....." Lamia said and I let forward. Within seconds she had reached out to the left of us grabbing ahold of something and slamming it up into roof and down into the floor exposing a man er demon laying there. Wide eyed he stared at us, "Wow Balthazar you weren't kidding." and he began chuckling. B rounded the corner coming out of the kitchen and stopped in his tracks. "Wow Mia, your face, your marks have changed alot!". Lamia responded, "It's me Balthazar. Cut the crap." "No im serious! Go look in the mirror." He said pointing back upstairs to the bathroom. Lamia dropped the chain and begrudgingly went back up the steps mumbling "he better not be pranking me. stupid marks." Upon reaching the bathroom, we were both in awe at our face. Our three original marks remained but the newest took up the majority of the space now. Black started at our third horizontal mark and bled small by our nose growing as it went further to our ears. It blended into our face swallowing our cheekbones and had specks of gold in it. "Whoa" Lamia said audibly. I echoed the same thought. Looking at our eyes Lamia continued, "I wonder if that will ever go away." referring to the blue crescent moons that sat within them. "I don't know" I responded. heading back down the stairs, the demon we threw peeked up at us curiously from the couch. "You're so tiny" he said smiling from the couch revealing a row of jagged teeth. Lamia sat inspecting him. He had black eyes with rings of white. It looked like he had cried black tears and they had stained his skin. A Grey and Black Hoodie concealing everything else except the huge chain that hung around his neck. Lamia turned her head sideways responding, "Ah, whats a chain demon doing here?". He stood up off the couch and glared, "That's kyton to you succubus." and spat a ball of black towards us. Lamia dodged it, "What a touchy bunch you all are." halfway smiling she continued "And what might your name be?". "Horde. Let the human come through. I want to see if Balthazar is telling the truth.". I took control and as I did you could see his expression fall to disbelief. He was face to face with me before i had time to react, the rows of serated teeth staring at me. "Is the succubus still in there? I can't sense it." He said rocking his head back and forth. He pointed a finger at my forehead and went to poke us when I forced Lamia to take control. Our marks came through and before his finger had reached is, Lamia had blocked it with our hand. Horde's eyes grew wide as plates. "Whoa." was all he said before B interrupted. "Pretty cool huh?" he asked. Lamia smacked his finger away saying "Keep your hands off my vessel. K? K." He seemed to be stunned and floated back down to the couch slowly taking his seat again. We had just finished walking down the stairs when I took control back. Looking towards Horde, his string was black with hues of charred orange floating within it. Looking towards the door, another string floated through the living room and around the corner into the kitchen. "Who else is here?" I asked B. This string was again black but with specks of varying shades of blues speckling it. "Oh she's in the kitchen. Once I found out just who Lamia was, I figured it'd do you both well to have someone loyal." I was confused by his words and so was Lamia. We heard a loud stomping followed by a regular footstep coming towards us. A beautiful woman with long blonde hair tipped with black stepped before us and bowed. I noticed a golden horse hoof peeking out from under her dress and once Lamia saw it she became excited. "AN EMPUSAE! Please let me forward Mia!" doing as she asked, Lamia bent down and touched the woman's head. "Thank you for your loyal devotion. You shall one day be rewarded." She turned giving B a soft look, "Thank you Balthazar for this. I thought they had long been extinct.". B replied, "You miss out on a lot being stuck down there Lamia.". The woman then got up keeping her head bowed. Lamia responded, "What is your name? You can speak openly here. We are in a peculiar situation so forego the formalities please.". The woman then peeked up, her eyes fully engulfed in black also. "Hectate I came here at once as soon as Balthazar summoned me. My name is now Epiphene, but when you turned me I was known as Seli.". Lamia was deep in thought. "Ah Pompeii." she finally said. "Yes Hectate". "Please refer to me as my original name from here on Seli." The woman bowed her head acknowledging Lamia and I was given back control. Looking at the woman, she had a brown skirt where a metal leg peeked out. She looked more human than demon other than the eyes. "Do not let the looks fool you Mia. They are gruesome creatures. Made them myself." Lamia responded to my inner thoughts. B broke the silence. "Now that every one is here, we should probably get going.". With that all of us stood up and started to exit the tiny cottage. My thoughts swirled but thankfully Lamia kept quiet letting me process them. Like Pompeii, the Pompeii where thousands died. I also didn't know where we were going and I admitted to myself that I felt very overwhelmed being the only human soul in a car full of demons. All of them had taken their human forms but it was still unsettling. Horde was a buff man with tattoos trailing down both arms matching the buzzcut and blue eyes. Seli or Epiphene? whichever was a beautiful blonde of a very small frame. She looked like China and was much the opposite of her demon form. After a silent, awkward car ride of about 45 minutes, B pulled my civic to the side of the road. There was nothing out here but trees. The silence broken again by B "Now we walk." He said opening his door heading to the trunk. He grabbed four bags and distributed them amongst the four of us. "We walk where exactly?" I chimed in. B pointed west and said "That way.".